All of this is bad news for Ethereum. Ethereum’s blockchain is the most popular platform to use when hosting an ICO — its blockchain allows people to write “smart contracts” that will release new tokens to investors when a certain amount of Ether, the digital currency that powers Ethereum, is received. This Ether can then be converted into dollars or other fiat currencies.

Despite its steep price fall on Monday, Ethereum still remains up over 2,000% over the last year, after a neck-breaking price rise at the start of 2017 fuelled partly by a boom in ICOs. Startups raised over $US1.5 billion through ICOs in the first half of the year.

Elsewhere, bitcoin is also down on Monday afternoon, hit by weak sentiment across the cryptocurrency sector. Bitcoin is down over 5% against the dollar to $US4,361.25 at 3.30 p.m. BST (10.30 a.m. ET).